Dix­ie Ann Dick­son

MP for Laven­tille West, Nile­ung Hy­po­lite, yes­ter­day of­fered the Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist com­mu­ni­ty a re­newed part­ner­ship with the PNM, say­ing that the coun­try can use their strength as an ex­am­ple to pre­vail against all odds.

Hy­po­lite made of­fer dur­ing the Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist Lib­er­a­tion Day cel­e­bra­tions host­ed by Na­tion­al Con­gress of In­cor­po­rat­ed Bap­tists Or­gan­i­sa­tion of T&T at the St Au­gus­tine Se­nior Sec­ondary School. "Just like the Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tists who went through many strug­gles and tri­als, but re­mained true and com­mit­ted in or­der to freely prac­tise their re­li­gion, so too, the na­tion can draw on this strength to pre­vail against all ills," he said. Hy­po­lite re­count­ed the his­to­ry of the Bap­tist re­li­gion, high­light­ing the strug­gles they had to en­dure, "but it was their faith which had them go­ing strong 59 years af­ter. "We in T&T are priv­i­leged to have your hu­man sto­ry of faith that God is watch­ing and we will pre­vail against all pow­ers that con­front our na­tion," he said.

"Thanks to you, the Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist, we can use your strength and as part­ners of 1956 with the PNM... to­day I of­fer you a re­new­al of part­ner­ship with the PNM as we per­sist with con­tin­ued faith to build our na­tion." Hy­po­lite al­so not­ed that crime in Laven­tille was on a steady de­cline, but said this would not have been pos­si­ble with­out faith and prayers. "Crime in Laven­tille is on a steady de­cline...I am here to tes­ti­fy that this is a fact, but that can on­ly take place with the prayers that are com­ing from each and every one of you, " he said. He said there were a num­ber of re­li­gious or­gan­i­sa­tions in Laven­tille, but "be as­sured that one can find a Bap­tist church at every cor­ner." He said the spir­it of the Bap­tist re­li­gion was still alive in Laven­tille to­day, like many years ago.

He re­it­er­at­ed that the Gov­ern­ment had em­barked on a spe­cif­ic pro­gramme to a cost of $300 mil­lion to de­vel­op Laven­tille, not­ing that "maybe, just maybe, the de­vel­op­ment and the use of that $300 mil­lion should be done in some kind of col­lab­o­ra­tion to the peo­ple who be­long to Laven­tille."